


Errant

by CopperLeaf



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Basically all the kids get powers, Healing, Multi, Physikinesis, Pyrokenesis, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Zoolingualism, super speed, super strength, there is no adult supervision
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-09-12 12:30:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16872945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CopperLeaf/pseuds/CopperLeaf
Summary: Give any normal group of kids super powers and they are bound to abuse them.But the party was not any normal group of kids. They knew what monsters lurked beneath the eye's reach.So they took the responsibility to slay the beast.





	1. the very beginning, and the beginning of the end

Fall, 1983  


The cat in the cage hissed.

It was a grating, pitiful sound that had equal emotional weight to the echoing sounds of 011’s screams from down the hallway.

But of course, Dr. Martin Brenner was not a man known to dwell on emotions, much less those related to pity.  
He drew in a deep sigh and released it forcefully, rubbing his eyes so that the skin on his eyelids became taught. This was all so much _harder_ without 011’s cooperation. He had tried all that he could to help her understand the extent of what they were trying to accomplish, but it was hard to explain the concept of war to a little girl whose entire permitted range of vocabulary words was discussed over a conference table barely a few days after she was born. She was never to know the words _friend,_ or _ice cream,_ or _hope._ They were too dangerous, which was especially ironic considering the danger he danced around every day in his line of work. But he didn’t care. There was a war to be fought, and it wasn’t going to be won with clean hands.

The cat growled again, drawing Brenner’s attention away from his frustration. He turned to look at the annoying little creature, his attention now captured with the task of taking it to be euthanized so they could analyze its tissue for any potential changes 011 might have done to it, but the cat was not in the cage.

The cage was still obviously locked shut, and there was no evidence that the cat had forced its way out. Brenner looked under the table and turned to each of the corners of the room. The orange cat still did not appear.

He was about to leave to look outside of the room when another yowl came from the top of the table. The cat was still there, but he couldn’t see it.

Brenner’s heart suddenly raced with excitement as he approached the cage. Could it be possible, and if so, how?

He carefully slipped his hand inside of the bars of the cage. Almost immediately, the tips of his fingers poked into the soft side of an invisible furry body, causing a mouthful of sharp teeth to sink into the base of his thumb. He cried out and drew his hand away, but despite the pain he couldn’t help but laugh. The cat had turned invisible.

Down the hallway, Brenner heard a muffled crash. He hesitantly left the room with the invisible cat to investigate, and when he turned the corner saw the two men who had taken 011 away slumped on the ground, either dead or unconscious. 011 herself was leaning against the wall of her designated room, blood streaming out of her nose and ears.

She looked up at him with an exhausted desperation in her eyes, too tired to resist as he took her in his arms and walked them away from the corpses.

This girl was the key to it all. She was the key to the end.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-==-===-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Winter, 1985.  
  
Mike had become a light sleeper ever since Eleven disappeared. Those first nights she was gone, he kept the SuperComm turned on while he slept, so that every little change in the frequency tone caused him to shoot up in his bed, expecting Eleven to have contacted him. He didn’t lose hope, though he was increasingly more sad as each day passed.  
  
A car door slam woke him up that fateful early February morning, and immediately he was on high alert. Though it was never officially decided or even talked about, he was the leader of the party, on a level that went beyond what it used to be a year and a half ago when their friendship was based on D&D campaigns. He had lost Eleven the hardest. He was the most watchful over Will. He had stayed with Will and his family in the lab, even when Mrs. Byers told him to go home. He wasn’t the strongest of them, one glance at El or peek into Will’s head was evidence of this. But he was the toughest, in a strange, roundabout way. So he lead, and they followed.  
As a result, he was always on high alert when it came to danger. So even though he was tired, and though things were starting to be normal again, the car door slam made him get out of bed and look out the window.  
  
The hairs on his neck raised, and a look materialized on his face that only those who had experienced what he had experienced could know. It was one that made you forget that he was only fourteen.  
  
Soldiers, crouched low to the ground and with flashlights perched atop their rifles, were surrounding his house in the lightening dawn.  
Mike snapped his curtains closed and snatched up his SuperComm, growling a code red into the receiver as he packed a bag of all the clothes laying on his floor. There wasn’t any time. Within moments, Lucas replied. “Mike, I’ll get Dustin, he’ll get Steve. Max is already with me. God, we should have known. Will and Jonathan already radioed. El is with them. Hopper’s trying to stall as best he can but there’s not much more he can do. Meet at the rendezvous point.” Mike didn’t respond. They could regret their unpreparedness later.  
  
He was still in his pajamas, but it didn’t matter. He slipped his sneakers onto his bare feet without complaint and shoved his arms into the sleeves of his coat just as Nancy walked in, her jaw set, just as prepared as her brother. There was a pound on the front door, just down the stairs.  
They went back into Nancy’s room, sneaking onto the roof as many others had done before. Of course, the house was surrounded, but they were shrouded in darkness enough to remain hidden.  
  
“Can you do it?” Whispered Nancy, looking at her brother desperately. He blinked hard. “I can try. El tried to teach me, but… I’ve never had to do it while being scared.” Nancy shook her head. “We have to be angry to do it, remember. You know who these people are. Get mad about it.” Mike clenched his teeth and nodded curtly. He stared at the quietly moving soldiers with a calculated fury blazing in his pupils, his breath quick and short in his nose.  
  
A moment passed, a bit too long for Nancy’s comfort, but sure enough the men below exclaimed in surprise as their feet suddenly floated off of the ground that they stood on. They desperately swung their legs to try to get their toes on the ground again, but the same pressure of gravity that had them firmly planted on the ground was now the same pressure that was sending them on an unstoppable course upwards.  
  
Nancy grabbed Mike’s wrist, and the two of them jumped off of the roof, grunting at the pain in their shins as the impact hit.  
  
“ _Fuck_ , Mike. You couldn’t have lightened up our landing a little?” Nancy hissed. “Nance, I’ve got other things going on,” He bit back in response, throwing his arm up to gesture to the floating men. The two of them started to run, the sound of their sneakers slapping the pavement echoing through the sleepy town of Hawkins.

When the sun rose, everything would be different.  


	2. Dustin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoolingualism: the power to understand animal life forms

Winter, 1984

It started in early December, when they were biking to school.

“Mike?” Will called up to his friend, and immediately Mike slowed down so they could bike together, side by side.

“Yeah, Will? What’s up?” He asked, unable to cast the thinly veiled concern from his tone. Though it slightly annoyed Will to not be able to leave the scrutinizing eyes of his friends and family, he always forgave them for it. They had saved his life twice, they were allowed to be a little worried.

Will reached out to poke Mike in the shoulder, causing both of their bike tires to wobble a little before they each set back on a straight course.

“When’s El coming to school?” He asked, a little nervous to bring up the slightly sensitive topic of Eleven to Mike. It was much better now than it had been when everyone thought she was as good as dead, but it was clear that Mike missed her terribly and was counting the innumerable days until they could see one another every day.

Mike sighed. “I don’t know for sure. Hopper says it might be the start of next school year, but maybe it’ll be the semester after that. It’s hard to measure this kind of thing.”  
Will nodded, understanding.

“What’s important is that she stays safe!” Dustin called behind him as he and Lucas fell into even pace with their two friends, Max carefully perched on Lucas’ pegs.

“And it’s not like we never get to see her.” Max added softly. Mike huffed. “Once every two weeks doesn’t cut it for me all that well.”

“Once every two months, then?” She retorted sweetly, a little too used to his complaining. Mike didn’t reply, but he stuck his tongue out at her.

“Hey, Wheeler! Don’t stick your tongue out at a lady. She deserves some respect.” Lucas scolded, only half playful.  
  
Mike guffawed. “Max isn’t a lady. She’s nothing like Lady Galadriel.”  
  
They biked past a yard surrounded by a tall chain link fence, and a group of about five dogs barked at the party and pawed at the wire.  
  
“Of course she’s not like Galadriel. She’s more like Lady Eowyn. Would you disrespect Lady Eowyn?”  
  
Mike drew in a breath to retort some snarky reply, but the words died in this throat when Max suddenly jumped off of the bike and ran in a deadbolt to where Dustin was suddenly halted, staring at the dogs. His mouth was open in a silent scream, but he didn’t seem fully aware of it.  
  
His face was blanched of all color, and all of their hearts were suddenly seized with terror because his expression was far too similar to that of Will’s on the soccer field a little more than a month ago. Like he was seeing things that weren’t really there.  
  
Each of them scrambled off of their bikes and abandoned them on the side of the road.  
  
Max grabbed Dustin’s shoulders and violently shook him, and to the relief of all present his eyes focused on her almost immediately and he closed his mouth. The dogs were all barking at them, the sound culminating into a cacophonous roar.  
  
“Dustin, what the hell is wrong with you? You’re scaring the shit out of us!” Max cried into his face. Dustin mutely shook his head and pushed her out of the way. “Max, shut up for two seconds.” He ordered, and she stepped away, gritting her teeth.  
  
To the outside world, there was hardly anything to be terrified about. But it had only been a few weeks, and they still weren’t entirely sure about if the Mind Flayer had any power left after the gate was closed.  
  
“What are you doing?! Yes, the dogs are barking, what’s so special about that? Dustin, you looked like Will did whenever he had his visions. We got really scared there for a second.” Mike hissed, stepping into Dustin’s line of sight once again.  
  
Dustin was still deathly pale. “I don’t think that’s too far off.” He admitted, his voice a quiet murmur. Will felt chills seize his spine, the memory of the cold and the dark and the evil too soon to forget. Lucas cast an arm around his friend’s shoulder, a tactic that all of them used in moments of tension to remind Will that he wasn’t alone.  
“Dustin, what do you mean?” Will asked quietly, the only person in the group who had just a little more power over Dustin’s stubbornness. It was enough to make him finally relent, and the fear in Dustin’s eyes softened into an admittance of helplessness.  
  
“The dogs, they’re… they’re talking to me.” He admitted, his own mouth seeming unsure of the words it was forming. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I hear them barking, and then, it’s like it translates into meaning in my head. I swear I’m not making this up, I swear I’m not messing with you. I’m telling you, something is going on.”  
They stared at him in mute shock, long enough for the dogs to get bored with their presence and quiet down.  
  
“Well…what were they saying?” Asked Lucas, kneeling down to stick his fingers through the chain link. A sandy brown mutt approached him and gingerly licked him, any hints of malice before now gone. Dustin’s lips quivered a bit. “It’s hard to explain. They don’t really have a whole language, just the feelings you would associate with certain words, and then I can guess about the entire picture of what they’re trying to say. Like, I know these dogs are hungry and bored and lonely, so I can guess they were barking at us to give them attention.”  
  
Will reached down to scratch the nose of a black lab through the fence, and its tail wagged so hard it hit either side of its body.  
  
Max sighed, her arms firmly crossed over her chest. “Dustin, I want to believe you. But I can’t, not until I have proof.” It was a fair request for her to make. While the boys had learned a year ago what the cost was for a lack of trust in one another, Max was the newest member. She didn’t have eight years of friendship under her belt, she hadn’t been there for the divide that schismed between Mike and Lucas because of El, but she did have love for her friends, and she did have the events of last month. It meant that what Dustin was saying wasn’t unbelievable, but it was still too far outside of her acceptance of what was real and what wasn’t.  
  
Dustin closed his eyes and let out a long, tired breath.  
  
“Don’t you just wish it could be over?” He murmured. The dogs looked up at him with their heads tilted to the side. One whimpered.  
  
Max pursed her lips and stepped towards Dustin again, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Just because it’s not normal doesn’t mean it’s bad.” She assured him softly, one of her rare and invaluable moments of tenderness shining through.  
  
“And Dustin, if it was something from the Upside Down, I would know.” Will spoke up, emerging from his place of retreat when things got a little too unfamiliar. “I know it better than I would like to. I know it when I see it. And I promise that it’s not in you.”  
  
“Then where did it come from?” Dustin groaned, exasperated. A sandy dog with a curly mustache yipped at him. “Shit, now they’re all worried about me!” He cried, running a hand over his eyes.  
  
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Dustin, when the words ‘supernatural abilities’ come to mind, what do you think of other than the Upside Down?”  
  
Suddenly the whole thing seemed a lot less sinister.  
  
“You think this might be from El?” Dustin asked, his attitude perking up. The dogs matched his mood and immediately started wagging their tails and licking their chops in excitement. They seemed to be able to understand what he was saying.  
  
Lucas groaned. “Dustin, I don’t know! Nobody knows when crap like this comes up. We just take care of it as we go and hope none of us die or something.”  
  
They stood there for a moment, the Hawkins morning traffic bumbling by without a glance at the group of kids on the sidewalk.  
  
“Let’s talk to El when we see her on Saturday. Maybe she’ll know what to do.” Mike suggested, always reliant on El for orientation in a world that kept spinning on him.  
It was easier said than done.  
  
For the remainder of the week, Dustin had to get used to experiencing the gentle bombardment of emotions of every sentient animal he came across. There seemed to be different layers of how the emotions were conveyed.  
  
“It’s like trying to hear a song on the radio through static.” Dustin explained to the party one day in AV club. He had an ant crawling around his hand to see if there was anything he could feel from it. “With animals like dogs, it’s scratchy but the sound comes through. I know what the song is and I can sing along. But with this little guy,” he nudged out his hand a little, “I can’t hear anything. It’s just blank sound. I know there’s something to be heard, but it’s just not on my wavelength.”  
  
It was a good analogy, and served well for quick explanations. A flock of geese flew over their heads one afternoon on the way home, honking the whole way, and the party excitedly looked to Dustin for a translation. “It was a little scratchy, but I think they’re just trying to stay focused on where to go.” He explained. It became a part of their usual friend group dynamic within a few days, which spoke volumes about the party’s genuine care for one another, but also for their naivety. Though they knew that El probably had better insight into the whole thing than they did, they still made the executive decision that it wasn’t dangerous. It didn’t have to be, so they didn’t mark it with any red flags. It was more fun than harmful, and they treated it as such.  
  
When El finally came over to visit that following Saturday, Dustin was buzzing to show her what he could do.  
  
They hid themselves in the Wheeler’s basement, despite the slight danger of Mike’s dad recognizing El. The likelihood of him actually remembering what she looked like was slim anyways. He was a man of normalcy and liked it to stay that way.  
  
Dustin had brought along his mom’s new cat, Mouse. Mouse was still a kitten, and had been named for his tiny stature and unnaturally skinny tail.  
  
At first, El assumed that Dustin had been excited about introducing her to Mouse. Her relationship with cats was a little strained, but she was trying to make a change in that, so she took the tiny kitten in her hands and held him close to her chest.  
  
“El… something is going on with Dustin.” Mike softly began, his shoulder supportingly underlapping her own from the place where they were sitting on the couch. Her eyes flickered up to Dustin worryingly, but he shook his head in assurance that it wasn’t something evil.  
“If it was really bad, we would call the Chief right away. This is just… different.”  
  
He reached his finger out to tap Mouse on his head, bringing the kitten’s attention back to his owner. “Hey, Mousey. Can you give El some kisses?” He asked in a sweet, cooing voice. Mouse stared at him for a moment, but immediately turned his face to where El’s chin was and gave it a few sandpapery licks.  
  
El’s eyes widened down at Mouse when she realized that he had listened to Dustin’s request. “Your cat… can understand people?” She gasped, her assumption just a little off. Dustin chuckled. “Close. He can only understand me. As can lots of other animals. And I can understand them. We were hoping that you would know why that is.”  
They all stared expectantly at El, waiting for the same spark of wonder that had been lit within them.  
  
But no surprise came. Only a look of exhaustion, her eyes drooping.“Not you too Dustin. You think it’s cool. It is, but it’s dangerous. They can’t come after you, too.” Her eyes nervously glanced over each of her friend’s faces, not focusing on Dustin specifically.  
  
“El, they’re gone. They can’t hurt us anymore.” Mike protested. She shook her head sadly. “I think Brenner is still alive.” The party was shocked, both at the news she delivered and at the fact that she hadn’t referred to him as “Papa.”  
  
They didn’t talk about the lab much. Even though not all of them had actually seen the inside of it, it had such horrifying memories and associations that they just let it fade away. They replaced it with time with each other, with their families, with safety.  
  
“He used to make me try to make the animals have powers.” El explained, her voice a tired sigh. “But it never worked. He tried to make me try harder by killing the animal in front of me if I couldn’t do it. I saw a lot of animals die. I don’t think I ever made it work. But I don’t know what made him think I could do it.” She glanced into Dustin’s eyes. “I guess he was right though.”  
  
The emotion in the room sat heavily on their chests, compressing and awkward for their inexperienced patches of wisdom.  
  
“We’ll figure it out.” Announced Max suddenly with a determination that only she could replicate. “Even if he’s still alive, that doesn’t mean we have to be scared. Just keep it secret and we’ll be okay.” Lucas added.  
  
Will let out a long breath, signalling that he had something to say. He had remained quiet the whole time, watching the conversation intently but not engaging.  
“I think I’ve decided something.” He said, nodding firmly. His friends looked at him, their ears as open as their hearts.  
  
“I’m glad the demogorgon took me.”  
  
The room erupted into a series of protests and scolding, assuming that he was coming from an old place of feeling like everything was his fault. He shook his head and waved at them to quiet down. They obeyed.  
  
“Because,” he continued, “if he didn’t, I think that lab would still be getting away with all the things they were doing. El wouldn’t be out of there. Barbara wouldn’t be avenged. A lot of other people would probably be dead. What stopped so many bad things from happening started because you guys went to look for me in the woods and found El instead. And now we’re here. And I don’t think I want to change that.”  
  
They were quiet. He was right.  
  
“So we have to take what we know, and we have to use it wisely. If Brenner is still alive, then he might be out there doing something new. We have to be ready for it. And we have to take it down.” There was too much power in Will’s voice. It was not proportionate to his age, and yet it made sense that he was so firmly insisting on action against a power much greater than themselves.  
  
The power they needed would come, though.  
  
And it would bring the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the continued support! Constructive comments are so appreciated!


	3. Lucas

Lucas was a different boy than who he used to be. 

Looking back, he couldn’t help but be ashamed for the way that he had treated El that distant year ago. He had been so afraid of the thought of Will being dead, so terrified that his friend was suffering, that he took his terror and projected it onto this girl who was so weird that the air seemed to crackle around his ears whenever she got any sort of look on her face that especially irked him. 

But, now he barely recognized that person who had raised a finger at that scared little girl in a blonde wig and hand-me-down dress. It made him sick to think about how he had once suggested that they just send her back to where she came from. }

Now he vowed to protect her from that place and all the monsters inside it. Whatever the cost. Therin lay his fate.

One snowy night, a week and a half after the ordeal with Dustin began, the party was settled in watching a Blockbuster. El leaned lazily into Mike's chest as he ran his fingers through her unruly curls, unable to concentrate on the movie because his attention was turned to the girl in his arms. 

Suddenly, Max screamed. For all her tough exterior, she hated things that crawled too close to the ground, and that included the mouse that had perched itself on her ankle, nibbling on some popcorn. 

She instinctively kicked it across the room, its little body hitting the wall with a thud and slumping to the ground. 

Dustin gasped in horror and rushed over to the tiny rodent, scooping its body into his palm. He sniffled. Lucas rushed over to peek over his friend's shoulder at the mouse and winced at the awkward angle of its neck. It wasn't moving. 

"No!" Exclaimed Dustin in pure grief. "No! Come back! I'm sorry, she didn't mean it, you just scared her! Oh shit, you're okay! Please be okay!"  
The mouse did not respond, causing Dustin to cup his other hand over the corpse. He wasn't crying, but his friends knew he was pretty upset about it. He had a deeper understanding of the little creature’s sentience, and he was undoubtedly saddened by the lack of noise from the creature in his palm. To him, it was a little like watching a stranger get in a terrible accident. 

Lucas approached his friend and held out his cupped hands.

“Here. I’ll take her outside. It’s probably not good for you to dwell on it.” Dustin sniffed and nodded, carefully turning his hand to let the mouse rest in Lucas’ palms.  
Lucas searched Dustin’s eyes to try to discern if he was okay, sighed a little when he found that that wasn’t the case, and stood up to go up the stairs to bury the mouse in a snow bank, when there was suddenly a quiet squeak. Dustin gasped in shock, and Lucas opened his hand to find the mouse was once again alive and perfectly well, its neck completely recovered. It stood on its hind legs and sniffed at him, chirping happily. 

Dustin wrapped his fingers around the mouse, giving her quite enough room to breathe though she was not especially resistant to his grasp.

He swiveled around to his friends, ecstatic that his new little friend was okay, but they did not share his enthusiasm. The were completely silent, staring at Lucas in mute shock. The movie played in the background, now forgotten. Dustin shrugged a little in confusion. "What? What's wrong?" 

"Dude…" whispered Mike to Lucas, "Your nose is bleeding." 

Lucas lifted his wrist to his nostril, finding Mike to be correct. 

The implication set in. Did be just do… what they think he just did? Did he just resurrect that mouse with only the power of his mind? 

"No way. I can't do that, that's El's thing. I wasn't raised in a lab or anything," He stammered, both excited by and terrified of what this could mean despite the recent events that had occurred with Dustin.

The party stared at El, hoping for answers. She just shook her head. “It has to be the same thing that happened to Dustin. I can’t explain it.”

“Lucas, dude! You have healing powers!” Dustin exclaimed, setting the mouse back down on the ground. Immediately, it crawled back up onto his shoe and nibbled on the aglet of his laces. 

"Well… was it really dead?" Asked Max, a little spooked but skeptical as always. "It was at least pretty hurt." Confirmed Lucas. "It definitely had some broken bones of some kind." 

“I guess there’s only one way to find out, but we shouldn’t kill the mouse again.” Will sighed, rising from his spot on the floor and rushing up the stairs. He returned a moment later with a wilting houseplant in his hands. “Lucas,” he instructed, “heal it.” Lucas scoffed. “Dude, there’s no way.” Dustin rolled his eyes. “Just do it!”  
Lucas sighed, but took the leaves in his hands. The party held their breath in anticipation, but after a half minute, Lucas huffed and stepped away. The leaves remained in their dying state. “Like I said, not happening.” 

“Of course it’s not.” Scoffed Max. “You don’t care about it enough.” In a flash, she whipped her pocket knife and drew it across her palm before any of the others could even exclaim in surprise. Lucas screeched and rushed over to her, clamping his palm over the spotting line of blood. 

“Max, for the love of god! What do you think you’re doing?” She shrugged. “I’m testing a hypothesis. See if it worked.” 

Dustin shook his head. “You’re crazy is what you are. I’m going upstairs to get some Band-Aids-” He stopped talking when he lifted his hand up from hers. She had bled onto his skin, a thin red line of liquid that evidenced a substantial cut. But where the gash would have been, there was none, only a line of new pink flesh. Lucas breathed out very slowly. “Is my nose bleeding?” He whispered in question. She slowly nodded, visibly awestruck. 

"This is the coolest shit I've ever done, and I've done a lot of cool shit in the past year." He muttered, and the whole group could only smile at one another in mute shock.  
In the weeks that followed, Lucas proudly showed off his additional designation as the party healer. Will bumped his head on the corner of a locker door, and Lucas was there to fix it, though he did start to experience a slight dizziness after the excitement wore off. 

"Lucas, drink lots of water. It helps me." El instructed one day after he had just healed Will’s' cold, his biggest challenge yet, and fainted immediately afterwards. They were glad they hadn't tried it at school, or El wouldn't have been able to be there to keep him calm. She knew very well what it was like to lose consciousness to her own exertion, and it was never pleasant to come back from. He opened his eyes again and groaned. Blood trickled from both of his nostrils, which Will dutifully wiped away. 

It didn't take long for Lucas’ new powers to fade into the normalcy that accompanied their party. El's powers were still amazing sometimes, but to them, they had become comfortably commonplace. The same came to be with Dustin and Lucas. With every scrape or bruise they encountered, Lucas healed it, and they began to feel all the more invincible.

But a problem arose, presented in the form of a question from Will, always a bit more thoughtful and practical than his friends tended to be.

“Should we tell our parents?” He asked quietly on an afternoon in AV club. Hopper had reluctantly agreed to help sneak El in so she could see the radios the boys were always chattering about, and while she didn’t care much for the machine, she loved being with them. They had been yammering away about maybe trying to go biking on Grey Goose hill, a slope known for its steepness and innumerable bike accidents. But maybe with Lucas there, they could take it and he could heal them if they got hurt.  
Will’s question made them forget their discussion, though. 

They all had much different relationships with their parents than Will did, ranging from loving but at a safe distance to resentful and cold. Their parents didn’t pursue deeply into the things that were going on with their friends, and they did not go to their parents with their problems. But Will’s mom was so important that she was almost a part of the party, a knowing watchful eye over all of them that was determined to keep them safe. And Hopper outright demanded them that he would be the first person to know if anything were to ever turn south again, but El had purposefully held back on the information about Dustin and Lucas.

Over a month and a half later, and Hopper was still patrolling the crop fields, ensuring that the rot had decayed into the soil and was now nothing but fertilizer for the corn that the farmers had planted to restore the nutrients. El knew he didn’t need another thing on his plate. He was still gasping in his sleep, plagued by nightmares of dark tunnels, and demodogs that killed everyone while he helplessly watched, and of being on the lift and being overcome by the monsters and watching El be struck down over the railing. She knew every detail, because she would go in and pull him out. He woke, drenched in cold sweat, but El held his hand and let her growing curls fall on his chest until his breathing slowed back into sleep. In the morning, neither one of them mentioned it . 

“I’m definitely not telling my mom.” Dustin responded with finality that couldn’t be argued. “I don’t want to be secretive, but she couldn’t take it. She nearly lost her mind when Mews went missing.” They silently agreed. “I’m not telling my parents, either. They’d probably take me to a doctor or something, and if Brenner is still out there, I’m not taking my chances.” Lucas added. El nodded at him, knowing all too well the caution that made him make that decision. 

“Well… should we tell my mom? Just so somebody knows?” Will asked again, his voice quiet and unsure. He didn’t seem to know what the reaction from his friends would be.  
Their eyes all turned warily to Mike, simultaneously deciding that he should be the one to have the first word. Sure, it was a democracy. But in all of the events over the past terrifying year, Mike had lead almost all of the charges that helped the situation turn out alright. His decision was like a pair of lucky socks, one that provided a sense of comfort even when things weren’t going right. If his choices had worked before, who was to say that they wouldn’t again?

Mike chewed on the inside of his lip, his gaze trained on the floor. He knew that they were relying on him, and he had to make the decision with all of the factors put firmly out into the open. But what worried him the most was the grim reality that the more people who knew the whole story, the more likely they were to be in terrible danger. They would maybe kill Joyce (though he wasn’t too sure of who they were anymore,) but that was only so long as she had information that was of value to them that they wanted to keep a secret. 

He looked back up at his friends, their eyes hopeful. 

“We’ll tell her.” He announced, and Will visibly relaxed. “But we won’t tell her about the specifics. We won’t tell her about what they can actually do. She needs to know, just in case we ever need an adult on our side. But the less specifics she knows, the safer she will be if things end up going wrong. Are we in agreement?” 

Nobody protested. “I’ll tell her. Alone. She doesn’t need everyone there to overwhelm her.” Will gently interjected. “Wish me luck, though. I really don’t want her to freak out.”  
Later that night, Will had dinner with his mom. Jonathan was out with Nancy, leaving the two of them alone in the house together. 

Joyce wasn’t oblivious to the nervousness that Will was feeling, he was practically itching in his seat, but she knew her son well enough to know when there was something sinister occurring. This was not one of those times, so she didn’t press and let him reveal his news in his own time. 

“Mom…” Will said softly, and she gave him her full attention, always desiring to let Will know that he could come to her with anything. 

“You have to promise me that you will keep this a secret.” 

Suddenly her blood ran cold. His face was far too serious. Mutely, she nodded, still giving him the stage and trying not to interrupt. 

He took a deep sigh. And he told her. 

He told her that Dustin and Lucas have powers, but different from El’s. He told her that Brenner might still be alive. And he told her that for now, they were safe.  
Joyce was quiet, her heart breaking. 

“Will…” she whispered. “I’m so sorry you kids had to grow up this fast. And I will do everything in my power to protect all of you.” 

A long time ago, that promise might have been enough to make Will feel at peace. But he knew that the time for peace had ended that fateful day in November. Not even a mother’s promise was powerful enough to change the fact that he and his friends would never live normal lives again. 

He decided to be content with the chaos, as they all did, day by day. 

Joyce hugged her son close and made the same choice.


	4. Will

After the snow ball, a snow storm came that rendered the entire town of Hawkins in a state of cabin fever. None of the stores opened, the school told families to stay home, and snowplows struggled to make their way through the dense powder. 

Hopper released Eleven to go sledding with her friends after much pleading from the entire party. She met them at the top of a hill by the now-abandoned Hawkins lab, deep enough in the woods that nobody would see her or disturb them. 

The sky was still releasing gentle flecks of white powder, decorating El’s curls that were only a little less unruly than Dustin’s. Max looked even paler in the white background, but her red hair evoked an image of fire and ice. 

Mike and Lucas counted their blessings. 

Will looked at all of them and marveled, not for the first time, that they were his friends, and that they had all played a part in saving his life on multiple occasions. This is where it began to work in him. 

Max couldn’t hesitate any longer. This was the first snow she had ever encountered in her life, so like hell she was going to let it go to waste. She tentatively sat down on her makeshift sled made out of a trash can lid and butt-scooted until the slickness of the snow overtook her. The fresh powder blew up into her face, soaking her jeans because she didn’t have snow pants like the others. For the first time, her friends heard her squeal in joy, inspiring them to mount their own plastic sleds and carve their own paths in the snow. 

Hours passed in childish glee, only stopping when Lucas groaned. “I can’t feel my toes. How are you guys even walking right now? He pulled off his boots and his soaked socks to find that his toes were rather swollen from the cold. He winced. “I can’t bend them.”

Will kneeled down in the snow at his feet, touching them with his bare hands. “Yikes, Lucas. They’re cold as ice! Why didn’t you say something earlier?” 

Lucas was about to respond about how he wasn’t a pussy when he realized something. His toes were warm again where Will had touched them, and he bended them without issue. Only moments ago, they had felt stiff enough to be frozen. Now, they were as toasty as if they had been dipped in a hot tub. 

“Holy shit, Will. I think you have my healing thing.” He wiggled his toes for show. Indeed, they were no longer swollen, and when the others crowded around in wonder, they saw tiny tendrils of steam rising off his dark skin. 

“What?!” Exclaimed Will, wiping his nose with his hand and looking down at it. “My nose isn’t bleeding!” 

“Max, take your shoe off. Let me see if the same thing happens when I do it.” Instructed Lucas. Max obeyed, plopping down on the ground and removing her boot. Her toes were a bright shade of pink, but not nearly as swollen as Lucas’. Dustin placed his hand over her foot, encasing her toes in his palm. Immediately, he looked strained. “I can’t do it! It’s not like the body is actually broken in some way, swelling is just a natural response to cold. Will did something else to Lucas.” 

They rushed back to the Byers' house as quick as their freezing feet would carry them to test to see if Will really was developing his own powers. When they arrived, they piled into the living room, Max producing a lighter she had stolen from her step dad because she knew Billy would get in trouble for it. After a few failed attempts of starting the flame on her part, El gave her thumb a push to generate more friction. The little flame erupted a second later, upon which Lucas passed it over to Will. He tentatively held in between his fingers. “It’s weird.” He remarked softly. “It’s like, I can sense that it’s hot just by looking at it. I mean, obviously I know that fire is hot. But I can sense it this way.” Lucas nodded. “I feel the same, sometimes. When I look at living things and concentrate, I can hear their heartbeats in the back of my head.” 

“Make it bigger.” Instructed Eleven, the only one in the room who had any real authority on the subject. Their focus stolen away from the environment around them, they didn’t notice that Jonathan was in the room, leaning against the door frame. Will clenched his teeth and strained. “No, Will. Keep breathing. You might pass out.” El corrected, causing the sound of Will taking shallow breaths to fill the room. 

All at once, the lighter exploded into a huge fireball that blackened the popcorn ceiling. The room stank of singed hair, and all of the kids fell onto their backs, their faces burnt from being too close. Jonathan cried out in surprise, rushing over to Will. To his relief, his brother looked completely unharmed, in fact, he was laughing. The others sat up, their faces splotchy with first degree burns, but they too erupted into laughter. “Will, that was awesome!” Exclaimed El, running her fingers over her singed eyebrow hair. 

Lucas was wiping his face with his hand, each pass causing the new burns to be a lighter and lighter shade of pink. His hair did not return to be the same way, that would take time. He reached over to Dustin and did the same, and Dustin let him until the pain went away. Lucas repeated the process with El, Mike, and Max, causing his nose to trickle a little blood. 

“Jonathan, while you’re here, can I get a tissue?” He asked, and Jonathan mutely obeyed, completely dazed by the events that had happened within the short span of a few minutes. 

“Hold up, speaking of, why didn’t Will’s nose bleed?” Asked Dustin as he ran his hands through his hair, hoping the damage wasn’t too bad. 

Jonathan returned with the tissue, which Lucas used to loudly blow his nose. “Better question,” Jonathan interjected, “What the hell is going on?” 

As usual, the party’s eyes flew to Mike, but instead he nudged Will to provide the response. He seemed a little sheepish about not telling his brother, but Jonathan was clearly not upset with him, just utterly confused by the enveloping chaos.

“We think that a part of El’s powers makes us able to have powers to. Dustin can talk to animals and Lucas can heal. It’s pretty cool, but don’t tell anyone about it. El thinks that Brenner might still be alive.” As Will spoke, the group got bored of listening and instead turned their attention to the lighter, which had melted away on the top half. 

“Holy shit Will! That’s some crazy power you’ve got going on, why isn’t your nose bleeding?” Max exclaimed, running her fingernails over the hardened drips of bright red plastic.  
“Maybe it’s the same reason he can control heat and why it didn’t hurt him.” Jonathan answered, the memory of Will screaming bloody murder while tied to the bed in the cabin flashing through his mind. “The heat is what drove out the hive mind. Maybe his body built up this immunity after having a parasite inside of him, and this is its way of responding to El’s effects. And no offense, but he’s way stronger than all of you, so it might take a lot for him to lose strength.” 

It made way too much sense. Will shook his head and lay back on the floor, staring at the blackened ceiling. “Why do our lives have to be so weird?” He breathed. The wonderment was justified, a testament to everything they had done wrapped up in a simple question posed by a boy who was far too young and kind to deserve what happened to him. And yet, he had dealt with it with grace, so that even his body had taken the hardships it had endured and turned it into a power.

He practiced plenty with lighters, but Will didn’t stop at fire. He used his own body heat to warm a room, which didn’t make him cold. He sent drafts of heat through the air to his friends in class to tease them and made their bullies unbearably hot by placing his hand on the heating ducts and concentrating. His nose never bled, not once, and El and Dustin were a little jealous. But it plagued his friends, just a little, that a boy that was so good had a power of such intense destruction. Could he burn down entire homes? Forests? Worlds? It wasn’t clear. But they took comfort in knowing that he would not.


	5. Steve

Dustin was never one for shutting his trap when he knew it could serve a purpose. He was all about gut feeling, and then would hatch huge elaborate plans based on that gut feeling. In the recent year and few months, it had served him well, the prime examples being the sensory deprivation tank and trapping Dart in the cellar. The gut feeling was based on research and experience, though. It wasn’t without logic. 

So when he got a gut feeling to tell Steve Harrington about his “Zoolingualism” as he personally coined it, he didn’t feel the need to run it by anyone else in the group, fearful they would say no and get pissed off if and when he did it anyway. 

Since the tunnel incident, Dustin had made a purposed effort to keep in contact with Steve, both with the knowledge that he would always be an ally in case things went sour again, and because he thought the guy was almost as cool as Luke Skywalker himself. 

For about a month and a half, Dustin had been “tutoring” Steve for his science class. Steve had idly mentioned that they were discussing electromagnetic waves in class, and Dustin had immediately perked up, babbling on and on about radio waves and the ultraviolet spectrum. This rang a bell to Steve, and he apprehensively pulled out a worksheet that had been given to him for homework. Immediately, Dustin was all over it, explaining each part of the worksheet in detail and helping him fill in the blanks without even having to break out the accompanying textbook. 

From there on out, Dustin proved to be a useful resource in Steve’s quest to Get A Good Scholarship. His grades improved because when he sat down to take a test, he pretended that Dustin was sitting there at the kitchen table with him, his bright eyes encouraging him in every bit of information. Getting an A became about making a little middle school kid proud. 

Despite the age difference, the two of them were fairly good friends, a blessing for Steve considering his sharp decline in popularity over the recent months.   
Dustin really cared about his adult-aged friend, and he wanted him to know about one of the most important things going on in his life. So, one morning a couple of days before Christmas, he told him. 

They were walking through town, Dustin helping Steve pick out Christmas presents for his parents. “What the hell am I supposed to get the people who have everything they could ever need? I mean, I guess their marriage is the only thing that is really lacking in the happiness department, but that’s not really my area, so I might have to settle for a new tie for dad and an embroidered pillow for mom, or something.” Steve was rambling as they were walking down the sidewalk, Dustin jogging a little to keep up with Steve’s long strides. 

“Dude, come on. What’s wrong with candy? Everyone loves candy on Christmas!” The younger of the two excitedly exclaimed. Steve looked down at his companion and scoffed. “You don’t spend a lot of time around adults, do you Dustin? They’re all focused on not getting fat, and candy equals fat. It would be more of an insult to give my mother a box of chocolates than to stab her on Christmas morning.” 

Dustin frowned. “Your parents are no fun.” He grumbled. “You’re telling me.” Steve scoffed, scuffing the sidewalk with the soles of his shoes. 

A beat of silence passed, and Dustin nearly licked his lips in anticipation. This was his moment.

“Hey, Steve? I’ve got something to tell you, but you have to promise not to freak out.” 

Immediately, Steve looked down at his younger friend with a flame in his eye, constantly prepared to break out the bat again if need be. “What is it now, Henderson?” He murmured, serious as a funeral officiant but still trying to keep a lighter edge. 

Dustin shook his head. “No, we’re not in danger, calm down. We’ll probably get at least six more months of peace before things go to shit again, so rest easy.”

Steve relaxed a little, but still remained attentive. 

“Well, I mean, that’s not to say it isn’t the weirdest thing that has happened to us yet, but it isn’t a flesh eating monster this time, so I’m not exactly complaining.” Dustin was enjoying the buildup a bit too much, but he circled back to the topic at hand when he saw that Steve was drawing back and losing interest. 

The two of them had stopped at a street corner, waiting to cross while a small line of cars rumbled by. Dustin grabbed Steve by the shoulders and pulled him closer so he could speak softly, knowing the dangers of saying the wrong thing too loudly. 

“El gave us powers and I can talk to animals.” He announced in a hushed tone. 

For a moment, Steve stared at him blankly, Dustin perceiving his reaction as confusion. He was about to open his mouth to elaborate and give examples, but the sudden rising cacophous blares of multiple car horns stole their attention away from the conversation. 

There was a sleek and douchey Audi weaving its way through the puttering and patient Hawkins traffic, obviously having no intention of being courteous to the other drivers, but certainly not to the surrounding groups of pedestrians. It was banking too close to the sidewalk curbs, causing the people walking by to scamper to the side in fear of being hit.   
It was getting closer to where Steve and Dustin were standing, so Dustin put his middle fingers up at the driver. It must have stolen the driver’s eyes from the road for just a second, but long enough that the Audi clipped the front of a car stopped at the light, sending it careening right for the street corner. Steve didn’t think, he just did.

In a split second, he shoved Dustin behind him and braced himself for the car’s impact, placing one foot behind the other and throwing his hands in front of him. The impact came, Steve’s palms becoming firmly embedded into the hood and bumper of the car. Dustin screamed in horror, until he realized that Steve’s feet hadn’t moved an inch. He had stood firm against a car that should have bowled him over and crushed him. 

Steve looked just as shocked as Dustin and the other pedestrians felt. He had stopped a car with literally his bare hands. 

The drivers of the two cars both got out, each of them equally shaken but also equally pissed off at one another. It was an overwhelming scene, and the other people around couldn’t help but turn their attention to the heated argument that was unfolding in from of them, providing Dustin with the perfect opportunity to grab Steve’s arm and pull them far away from town. 

Steve’s silent face was shell shocked as they ran, and he couldn’t help but looked down at his hands, which were completely unharmed. Dustin was making enough noise for the both of them. 

“Holy shit dude, holy shit, holy Mary Mother of Jesus!” Dustin cried, unable to contain his shock and excitement. “You have super strength! You’re literally a real life Superman! Do you have any idea how incredible that is? Holy shit!” 

“Dustin, keep your voice down.” Steve quietly demanded, barely aware of his surroundings. His feet carried him forward in a hastened shuffle, and he absentmindedly raised his wrist to wipe at his upper lip. The streak of red the action left behind pulled him back to reality, and he dug his feet into the ground, preventing Dustin from yanking him along any further. 

“Dude, no. This can’t be happening.” 

Dustin, taking his shock for wonder, grinned up at his friend. “I know! Isn’t it awesome?”

Steve scoffed, a wet sound from the back of his choking throat that Dustin didn’t expect to hear. “No, I mean, this can’t be happening. I don’t want this to happen. I can do the monster hunts, I can handle getting the living shit beat out of me for any assorted reason, but I don’t want this. I want to be able to sit down one day and know for fucking sure that it’s all over. It may be all dandy for you kids, if you can run around and talk to the birds like some fucking Disney princess like it doesn't have anything to do with monsters straight from hell, but I don't want it.”

Steve’s voice was broken and bitter, a raspy cry that filled the silence that Dustin found himself unable to deal with.

“Steve… none of us chose this.” He murmured. 

The older boy chuckled humorously. “Yeah? Speak for yourself. I did choose this. There was a moment where I could have run away from the monster and left Jonathan and Nancy to deal with it. But I went back into that house, I swear that place is cursed, by the way. And now here we are.” 

He kneeled down, rocking back on the balls of his feet in a tired submission. The blood on his hand had crusted over. He rubbed it away. 

Dustin drew in a shaky breath, only in that moment processing that he thought Steve was going to die. But they had been there before, down in the tunnel, the dogs closing in on them, a gory death certain and imminent. He remembered how Steve’s arm had a vice grip on his shoulders, each of them squeezing their eyes shut, prepared for the impact. 

Then the dogs brushed by. 

He had been so scared, but also so angry at himself for dragging Steve into this. This was his fault. But after all, Steve still chose to climb down the hole. Even when he was scared, even when he knew death was pretty much a certainty, he put himself into danger. He had shoved Dustin out of the way and instinctively held the car back, even though he had no idea about his super strength. He made that choice, over and over again, and likely would keep making it. 

A real life Superman in every sense of the word. 

“Steve…” Dustin started. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be over.”

Steve looked up at him, hot tears filling his eyes. Pain piercing his sensitive heart, Dustin went to his knees and placed his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “I mean, maybe one day this fight will be done. But we know, there’s always going to be more. More in the world, and more inside of us. And really, we’re going to need all the help we can get. I get it if you want to run from it, but I’m sorry buddy, I don’t think it’s going to work.” 

Steve ruefully grit his teeth. “So what should I do?” 

Dustin shook his head and gave one of his signature grins, the kind that came all the way up to his eyes. “We live like normal and have some fun. Don’t give up, Superman. The world won’t be the same without Clark Kent.” 

Steve scoffed again, this time in a way that Dustin recognized. “Dweeb.”

The two of them got to their feet and circled back into town to track down Steve’s car, Christmas presents forgotten. 

"Do you think you could carry the car home with me inside it?" Dustin asked suddenly.

"Dustin, for the love of god, don't push it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this one. Sorry for the irregular updates, school is officially back in session.


	6. Nancy

One afternoon as the group was walking out of school to retrieve their bikes and make their way over to Lucas’ house, Nancy and Jonathan were already there waiting for them. 

Nancy’s face was a pale white, something clearly making her incredibly afraid, but Jonathan seemed a little more at peace. This quelled the kids’ instincts to assume the worst and go on red alert. The knowledge that Brenner could be around the corner at any given moment didn’t make them skittish, but it did make them careful. El had firmly implanted what he looked like into their minds, so if they ever did see him there wouldn’t be any doubt. 

They all piled into Jonathan’s car, Will and Max folding themselves on the floor so that they wouldn't squish their friends too badly. 

They drove in silence, Nancy’s fearful demeanor setting the mood so that no one really wanted to talk. 

After a little while, Jonathan brought the car to a stop, but he didn’t get out. He instead turned around to the group and started handing out long strips of torn up t-shirt to each of them.  

“You have to promise that you won’t look.” He commanded. “If you don’t, Hopper might kill me and then you.” 

Their eyes lit up. They knew where they were going. They each put on their blindfolds with the glee of children preparing to break open a pinata, Mike most of all. 

Keeping their promise to Jonathan, none of them removed their blindfolds, though they could tell the ground underneath them was getting more and more bumpy.

They were headed for El and Hopper’s cabin. They hoped that the reason why wasn’t the worst case scenario. 

When the car finally stopped, Jonathan barely had announced that they could take their blindfolds off that the kids were already halfway out the car. 

“Stay quiet!” Jonathan hissed before Dustin or Lucas could open their mouths. They kept their voices in a whispered hush, but when the door clicked open to reveal a grinning El on the other side, they all released hush squeals. 

They all entered the small cabin where Hopper was waiting for them, looking a bit disgruntled with having a gaggle of teenagers invade his living space. 

Mike stopped and glanced at his sister, still pale and not herself. They were here for a reason, and it wasn’t just to have a surprise visit with El, as much as he appreciated it. 

Apparently they were all thinking the same thing, as they all turned to glance back and forth between Hopper, Nancy, and El. 

Hopper sighed. “Nance, this is your deal first. Tell them and then I’ll have my talk.” 

Nancy looked impossibly nervous, but they all settled down into the living room area, El and Mike sitting on the couch together. El rested her head on Mike’s shoulder and released a tired sigh. Mike pulled her a little closer. 

They were all quiet, waiting for Nancy to begin, but she didn’t speak. She just stared at them, her face concentrated.

Then they heard it. A small voice in their heads not unlike their conscience, but it markedly carried Nancy’s light timbre. 

_ Can you hear me?  _ It asked, quiet, and not very strong, but real. They all blinked at Nancy in shock, half wondering if she had said it aloud. 

_ Nancy? Are you talking to us?  _ Thought Mike, not saying it aloud. She nodded, her eyes full of fear, until the kids started to laugh. 

“Hey, guys, this isn’t funny. This is serious, it’s happening to everyone now.” Snapped Jonathan. “She told me about it and I told her that you guys, of all people, would be able to help. So, what is she supposed to do?” 

Max shook her head. “Dude, just do what we do. Have fun with it. You actually have a superpower, why are you scared? We laugh because it’s fun. Don’t be an adult about it. What are we supposed to do? Tell our parents? Go to the doctor?” 

She was right, Nancy knew. She cast her eyes down to the floorboards. “It’s so weird.” She muttered. “I can set up conversations with our minds and we can just talk. Jonathan and I have been practicing for a few days. But I’m scared… because this totally ruins who I thought I wanted to be. I mean, that was already completely destroyed. But now we really can’t move on.” 

Now it was her turn to be right. Will would never just forget what happened to him. Mike didn’t know what it would take to make him stop worrying about El disappearing again. Nothing was sure. 

“Which brings us to our next order of business.” Hopper announced from where he was slouching in the corner of the room. They all shrunk away from him a bit, embarrassed that they hadn’t kept him in the loop about their activity. But he didn’t look angry, just tired. 

“If you thought that I wouldn’t figure out that you were up to something, you’re sorely mistaken.” He sighed. The boys’ faces all blanched of color, but El just rolled her eyes. 

“I get why you didn’t tell me. And I get why you told Joyce. But what would have happened if I didn’t figure it out and something happened?” 

“We would have figured it out. We always do.” Mike quickly retorted, not liking the feeling of his leadership being put into question. Hopper raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, as if the two times before didn’t require my help?” Mike clenched his jaw, but kept his eyes level with the Chief’s. But Hopper wasn’t looking for a showdown. He let out a long, tired breath, and El’s heart twinged a little. 

“Kids, we have to be in this together. I know you feel like you’ve got it all under control, but there’s parts of this that you have to admit you need me for. You’ve got a police officer on your side. That doesn’t make you invincible, but it means you’ve got a more watchful pair of eyes. If something changes, you tell me. Always tell me.” 

Mike relented. Hopper wasn’t somebody who he wanted to butt heads with too much. It gave them both a headache. 

Hopper turned back to Nancy. “Do you know the full extent of what it can do?” Nancy scratched her arm nervously, a lint ball on her sweater catching under her fingernail. “I haven’t really tried.” She admitted, flicking the lint away. 

“Well, you better start. This could either be a really short range walkie talkie or you could make it into mind control.” At this, Nancy’s eyes widened again. “Not that you would ever have to use it.” Jonathan reassured her sweetly, wrapping her in a side hug and giving Hopper an exasperated glare. “We just need to know so we can be one step ahead of the bad guys, if they ever do come, and hey, I’m not saying they will. But like Hopper said, we have to be ready for it.” 

Nancy nodded, not really looking like she actually believed him. 

They left the cabin that night with a skeleton of a contingency plan laid out. 

First, they would use their walkies to communicate if anything went bad. They were never to leave home without one close by. 

Second, they were to continue to practice their abilities under El’s teaching. Every Wednesday afternoon they would meet at the cabin, work with El, and practice on their own. 

Third, if anyone were to get new abilities, they were to notify the group first, and then Hopper. 

And fourth, if they ever saw Brenner’s face, they were to run like hell to the quarry to meet up. 

These were rules laid down by Hopper, which made El bristle in her seat to have confines placed around her friends, but she also knew they were necessary. It wasn’t their survival that was in question anymore, it was their lives. Nothing terrified her more than the thought of her friends facing the same fate that she grew up in. 

She had decided to die for their sake once before, and as she watched Dustin and Max give Lucas dual wet willies on their way out of the cabin while Mike and Will cackled, she decided that she was willing to do it again. 

  
  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

  
  


Far under the cement foundations of Chicago, Martin Brenner stared intently at a crack in the wall. 

Usually when cracks develop in walls that were that far underground, it became a cause for worry. Being buried alive was not a pleasant way to die. But Brenner was not worried. He was thrilled. 

Between him and the crack lay six inches of ballistic glass and thirty feet of carefully excavated open air. This was for a very good reason, because the crack had not been there that morning or any day before that. It had emerged, making itself known through careful application of radiation, sound frequencies, and just a touch of human terror to create a seamless blend of energy that coaxed out an interdimensional portal, slowly growing and overtaking the space that had been provided for it. 

Brenner had been fighting to recreate the “accident” with 011 that had opened up the first portal, all without 011 here to do it. He wouldn’t verbally admit it, but it was a bit of a botched job. He took into account everything that she had done that caused the gate to open, and was forced to substitute crude radiation and high pitches for her powerful brain activity. The human terror part was easy to acquire. Chicago was full of homeless people with no one to miss them and the need for money that would cause them to sign their lives away without reading the fine print. Brenner didn’t especially enjoy watching them be tortured, but science was science and he wanted to be there for when the gate emerged. 

And now it was here. A potential weapon to end all weapons and the power to stop all wars before they even began. 

He felt the ground beneath him vibrate, and he smiled. 


End file.
